Pick a Side: Engine Swaps
Engine swaps have played a central role in hot rodding and racing since the very beginning. As technology has marched on, the engines available to hop up and drop into our cars have gotten progressively better over the past 100 years or so. This has made for some interesting combinations over the years. But there are folks out there who wouldn’t dream of compromising the integrity of their hot rod by swapping in an unwelcome powerplant.
As Speedway Motors celebrates its 70th anniversary, we’ve spent lots of time rummaging through the archives. Engine swaps were a huge part of “Speedy” Bill Smith’s company in its fledgling years. Bill and his crew became known as a one stop “swap and hop” shop, with the capability to build the engine, fabricate the necessary brackets and adapters, and build a dual exhaust kit to finish the job. Often, this was in the form of a then-new overhead valve V8 from Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Chrysler, and later Chevrolet. Customers would show up and want to beat their buddies at the Friday night street races or drags at the airbase, so out would come the old flathead or straight 6 and in would go the new, high-tech overhead.
To guys doing these early swaps, brand loyalty didn’t really seem to factor into it. They wanted to go fast, and the emblem on the hood and what Detroit factory put it there didn’t matter much. Pick up any 50’s hot rod publication and the pages were filled with all sorts of wacky swaps and how-to’s. There were Hemis in F100 trucks, Cadillac 390’s in ’40 Fords. Legendary Hot Rod Magazine photographer Eric Rickman had ’54 Corvette with a hopped-up Olds Rocket. Ike Iacono’s Wayne-headed Jimmy 6 powered ’33 coupe was lighting up the California dragstrips, and author Don Montgomery stuffed a Jimmy into a ’36 Cord sedan of all things. There were no rules.
Then somewhere along the way, brand loyalty entered into our engine swap decisions. The “Ford in a Ford,” Mopar in a Mopar,” and “Chevy in a Chevy” crowd became outraged by the heresy of mixing and matching. And we get it. Odds are if you’re building a Ford hot rod that you also happen to like Ford cars, and by extension their engines. Some of us are die-hard proponents of this theory and wouldn’t consider the easier and cheaper option if it cross-pollinated our favorite marque.
These days, the engine swap debate is alive and well. Head to a Holley LS-Fest event and you’ll see late model GM engines stuffed into anything from AMC’s to Nash Metropolitans. We’ve seen Hellcat and Demon Hemis stuffed into kit Cobras and square-body Chevy trucks. The “whatever makes it go faster” philosophy hasn’t changed much in the last century. This even extends to the rash of EV swaps that we’ve seen at SEMA and elsewhere. It seems that a junkyard Tesla is as ripe for the picking as a Corvette or 5.0 Mustang. But, drive one of these Frankenswaps into a brand-specific show populated by brand purists and you’re not likely to see too many smiles.
So which side of the fence are you on? Does the idea of an LS-swapped Mustang or Hellephant powered Chevy truck make you gleefully eye the hacksaw, or does this engine swap chaos seem like sacrilege? What about an EV swap? Make your case here.